new york. that goes from midnight until 2 a.m. eastern time. for a

they weren't interested. i remember the day gloria hit very clearly. we were set up to go to work. we had all hands on deck. there wasn't much preopening trading. we were stunned the exchange closed. it was macho time then. i remember playing an impromptu game of poker with my bosses trying to figure out if they were paid to win or not. didn't matter. the bosses were darn good card players. i can reminisce about those forever, but let me tell you what had been my strategy that day because i can tell you how much has changed since 1985 and you've got to change with them or you're going to lose money. i had my plays. home depot. thriving southeastern chain, still not in the new york area. i knew it carried tools, had

materials to rebuild. stanley works and black and decker. they make tools again. morgan doors, high end. pittsburgh plate glass, windows. insulation. what was i going to do? i had my list out. i was going to call my clients. i didn't have any discretion. i had to make some cold calls, urge people to buy those stocks at the opening. here's what you need to know about them. i had total faith that one, i could get those stocks within a quarter or half point from where they went out the night before. and by the way, those were the days when we traded in quarters and halves. and two, i could make a buck or two when everyone figured out what i knew or read it in the paper that the storm had caused hardware sales to surge. there was pretty much a full day's delay for almost everything. very few people watched the equivalent of cnbc back then. we didn't even have television at goldman in those days. no easy access for stock prices. before i got to goldman.

i would sit in my dorm room and call my broker again and again and again for quotes. or hope a stock price came across the bottom of fnn. on the road, load your pockets with quarters. call fidelity. no cell phones. in fact, i was considered to be a real smart guy simply because i was able to put two and two together by myself without the help of an analyst. to do that without any authority, you would have to go to the library all the time where mary would pull microfiches from some card catalog. month's old financials that had been filed with the sec. they give you a depiction of how a company made its money. something you wouldn't know otherwise because it wasn't really information. there was nothing really available. the information gap gave you that huge edge. that's why i was so confident i could buy that day and sell the next day for a gain. fast forward to today. i got a tweet asking if it was too late to buy home depots or lowe's and frankly i had to snicker. first, everybody knows home depot and lowe's. second, everyone knows you go to them when there are repairs to

be done. third, the average joe can get all the research, everything you need to know about how the company is doing right now. the months old micro fische, please, everything is on line real time, not a day later. that's the greatness of a level playing news. the bad news? the same as the good news. everyone has everything simultaneously. gone are the dies you could have a proprietary trade. now everyone can add and it's as easy as four. my answer to the is it too late to buy home depot or lowe's question, is simply yes, you bet it is. for the people who bought the stock in advance of the storm because they have real time hurricane information at our

beck and call. they're ready to sell into your buys. then there's short sellers who may not let the stocks lift that much because they may realize how much business is lost to the storms and how much inventory there really was to be sold. i had a chance to interview the former costco ceo and asked if the company can make that much money off the staples that they sell. water, batteries, the answer is no. not unless there was other impulse buying by customers when they were there. in fact, i go so far as saying you have a better chance winning at a game of cards than you do at with many of the storm trades that have already happened. and remember, trying to win was ill advised. as ill advised as it might be, here's the bottom line. i have some good stock ideas that can get you the tail wind from the storm later in the show, but believe me, you would never buy these for the storm and they aren't trades. they are investments. the days you can trade off news that already occurred ended a very long time ago. bob in missouri. bob? >> caller: hey, how about a 2013 kansas city royals boo-yeah. >> what's up? >> i'm looking at priceline and expedia and all the hurricane is

causing on the east coast with airline travels and hotels and cars. what short-term effect do you feel -- >> temporary blip. what matters more is that priceline presents great value for individuals and expedia represents great values for companies. i am part owner of the deberry inn and we use expedia. if you're a company you look at checker board through expedia. people are cutting their travel and entertainment people. they're cutting the travel desk, giving it to expedia. expedia is taking it over. very good story. kaitlyn in new york. >> caller: hey, jim, go blue. do you think hurricane sandy will have an impact on con ed? >> we had a great investor

relation private -- the relations guy today, pr guy. it's a good story. it's good a bad chart so people are backing away from it. i like it. let's go to bill in washington, please. bill. >> caller: hey, boo-yeah from seattle. come out of here and get out of that storm. >> i know, it would be drier in seattle. i've been thinking about that. >> caller: next time you're out here, i want to take you out for a boat ride and lunch. my ticket. >> i would love that, thank you. what's up? >> caller: my question is microsoft and what are you going to do with that damn stock. it just will not move. >> no, it's got a kind of sherwin williams feel about it. it's a paint dry stock. what timing. boy, windows -- people go in the store today and check it out. no one is going to the store in the east. microsoft is fine. it's not a great stock, not a bad stock. it needs to have an omg factor and it's got n-o-n-g, if you

know what i'm saying. you should buy investments and not trades. those already happened. "mad money" will be right back. >> coming up, harbor master? environmental servicer made big headlines today laying down more than $1 billion for an oil recycling company, could the stock help you clean up? cramer's exclusive interview with the ceo is next. and later, stock up? storm warnings sent consumers stockpiling supplies. but which retailer could realistically see the biggest bump from all the buying? cramer's got the play. plus, healthy outlook? in a market this volatile, your portfolio could use some shelter. ventas offers health care and housing properties across the country. could it provide protection for your cash? don't miss cramer's exclusive

with the ceo. all coming up on "mad money." don't miss a second of "mad money." follow @jimcramer on twitter. have a question? tweet cramer. send jim an e-mail to madmoney@cnbc.com. or give us a call at 1-800-743-cnbc. miss something? head to madmoney.cnbc.com. [ male announcer ] the 2013 smart comes with 8 airbags, a crash management system and the world's only tridion safety cell which can withstand over three and a half tons. small in size. big on safety. as part of a heart healthy diet.

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on a day when we got hit with a storm so severe that it actually shut down the stock markets, the question is, who's going to clean up this mess? we want to talk to clean harbor, clh. it has a terrific natural disaster clean-up business, which includes hurricane clean-up. but it's not just a natural disaster play. in fact, it gets more of its business like helping dirty industrial and oil and gas companies disposing of hazardous waste. plus it announced a $1.25 billion acquisition of safety clean, the largest refiner and recycler of used oil in north america. i think this acquisition could

be a giant deal for clean harbor's huge needle mover and by far the most important piece of corporate news out there today. this stock has given us a nearly 46% gain since it first recommended back in june 2010. in recent months, down more than 20 points from its high. however, i bet clean harbor could get back to its long-term track record of outperformance. let's talk to the man himself, the terrific founder, chairman, ceo of clean harbors, hear more about the storm in the takeover news. welcome back to "mad money." >> nice to be with you, jim. >> alan, you have done hurricane work in the past. do you work for the insurers? for municipalities? companies? what's your exposure do you think if this one does turn out to be the big one for 60 million? >> well, it certainly -- we're ensuring the safety of all of our employees and facilities in the east of the united states. we have a lot of our operations

in the mid atlantic and northeast. but we do have crews working with the oil companies with the utility industry out there to help them get service back on track once this storm passes and the event is over. so right now, we're really just hunkering down like most and hoping and praying this thing passes over from a safety standpoint. >> we see the refineries closing one by one. have you ever had a flood or -- you have to clean up a flood mess at a refinery? >> oh, certainly. you know, most of these sites do shut down for the safety of their work force and the plant themselves. so we'll see what happens. if they need support, we're certainly there. that's the kind of work that we do. we did it during katrina and rita back in the '05-'06 time frame as you know. our emergency response crews are ready to go. we have teams staged and our

emergency response center is staffed here at norwell. you know, we expect over the next, you know, 24-48 hours to be activated and help and deal with any kind of issue that our clients have out there. >> let's talk about your acquisition of safety clean. i have a piece in my hand, august 9, 2012, credit suisse, somewhat negative piece about your company saying it's more cyclical and tied into the oil and gas business than we realize. listen, it's too levered to that cycle. safety clean acquisition changes the whole rationale against owning clean harbors, doesn't it? >> well, i think it does. it's $1.4 billion revenues of environmental service work. it's going to work nicely into our disposal assets. safety clean really is a leader in three areas. the leader in handling small

quantities of waste generated by a number of industries out there. over 200,000 different customers out there. they also have the leading pot washer services network and they're a may juror refinery of waste oil. the largest refiner in the world in chicago. so when you take a look at those three environmental services, really focus on sustainability, focused on waste disposal, we can internalize a lot of those waste disposal needs they have and really leverage our network. so it's a great deal for both companies, we believe. >> okay, i know the company was trying to come public in august. obviously the stock market has not been hospitable to this kind of company, but what can you do together that would make it so that you could bring out more value in clean harbors and if it were to just come public on its own? >> well, you know, certainly when you look at the leverage in our network, both the disposal assets that we have where we can internalize more of the waste materials they're gathering as part of the small quantity

generating program, but also the systems. we have $100 million invested in our information management systems. a lot of mobility technologies being rolled out across our organization we want to take that investment and leverage it across that network. they have over 200 locations, 4300 employees, this will wring our total work force up to 14,000 employees. we're really going to be able to have a lot more scale. we believe we really can drive margin improvement across their business. when you look at this business back in the late '90s, very successful business. it went through some real difficult times. but through those difficulties, they have a real strong brand. we're going to maintain that safety clean brand. we're going to maintain that network of the branches they have. and that will be a network. we can leverage and bring other services to their customers, particularly clean harbor's field services businesses, which

is part of our emergency response business, as we talked about earlier. >> now, the conference call was interesting in that everyone seems really excited about the re-refining but there was some chatter about how the parts cleaning business is a very tough, competitive business. can you hold on to that business? does that fit into the broader plan for clean harbor? >> they have over 200,000 pots washing machines. there was a movement to go from a solvent-based technology to an aqueous-based technology. they've been holding their own. they have some patents in that business. they have some key differentiation, particularly on the aqueous solutions side of the business. so i think we cannot only hold on, but i really believe we can get back to growing that business. ott err thing is i think on the oil side, they just made a big capital investment over $25 million in the ontario re-refinery, and they're adding more technology to the back end side of their recycling business so they can recycle the oil, actually sell it in quart or

gallon containers as a recycled green product, and that whole sustainability initiative is really, really important for a lot of our customers, to have that sustainable business model that they have. >> i think you're absolutely right, alan. congratulations on this acquisition. good to talk to you, sir. >> great to talk to you, jim. thank you. >> i think the lack of exposure to the actual ups and downs of oil and the terrific secular growth of sustainability is going to make it so this acquisition is going to drive this stock of clean harbors higher. after the break, i'll try to make you more money. coming up, stock up? storm warnings sent consumers stockpiling supplies. but which retailer could realistically see the biggest bump from all the buying? cramer's got the play.

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chances are, you're not made of money, so don't overpay for motorcycle insurance. geico, see how much you could save. every time hurricane season rolls around, someone always asks me if there's a way to play the storm. year after year, i almost always say no. a hurricane is an event too widely known and understood to make any real money off of it. but this year, i'm going to give you an investment, not a trade, an investment that could also benefit from the storm. but i think it wins either way because it's pulled back nicely as of late. i'm talking about dollar

general, dg. account giant dollar store chain in 39 states. what the heck does a dollar store have to do with a hurricane? simple. we've been hearing about sandy for a week now, right? tens of millions of feel are in the storm's path and they've all been warned to stock up on everything they might need in case the power goes out and transportation gets shut down. that's where dollar general comes in. as a classic stock-up play. how do i know? because not only does dollar general sell food, more important, they accept food stamps. as we heard over and over again from mitt romney, this election season, there are now 47 million people on food stamps. that's an increase of 14.7 million people or 46% since obama took office, and those people buy the smaller units at dollar general. say what you want about the president, the increase in food stamps is a huge tail wind for dollar general. and it's natural they would have some major stock-up business ahead of this storm. however, hurricane sandy is just icing on the cake for dollar general. i can't do any trades because

they're too flawed but this investment, i like. i would be telling you to make this investment without the food stamp stock-up business from the storm. why am i such a big fan of this one? dollar general is the best of the dollar steers. best management, it's been able to deliver consistent double-digit earnings growth for the last several years. second, there's been trouble in the dollar store space recently. i think this industry is still a terrific fit for the times we're in. it ain't no boom here. an environment of high unemployment, slow wage growth, expensive gas prices, you better believe that consumers are still going to trade down to cheaper merchandise. and the merchandise is about as goo good as it gets. plus, imagine how good dollar general can do if washington pushes the economy back into a recession. not only would this company be

immune to the pain, nor and more consumers would be forced to squeeze down even as our nation obviously would be hurt badly bypassing over the fiscal cliff. look, we've had a stagnant economy for ages. how come i'm recommending it now? the easy, it's cheap. it's fallen from its highs and thanks to equity investors have sold some of their shares. but mainly on account of the not so hot numbers we got from dollar tree. see, dollar tree cut its same-store sales guidance in the third quarter recently blaming high gasoline prices and the preholiday calendar shift. the forecast hammered the whole group. but i don't think their alibis add up. let's take them one at a time. first, higher gas prices. dollar tree blamed them for the weaker same-store sales? make sense to you? makes no sense to me. when gas prices go up, consumers are more likely to trade down.

plus, the fact is that these dollar stores get a ton of walk-in traffic. they can careless about the price at the pump. then the preholiday calendar shift. dollar general gets 75% of its sales from food and consumables. these are much less affected by the shifts in the holidays. i love my dollar tree for its seasonal offerings. dollar general has been slammed because of walmart's emphasis on smaller stores that can compete with the dollar a store players. this has been overhyped. walmart plans to open 500 of these. dollar stores will open 1,500 locations. that's a drop in the bucket. i think that's why it's a steal right here. trading 14.2 times next year's earnings. that's a huge discount to the stock's historical average multibillion of 17.9 times earnings. at these levels, i think dollar general, i'm calling it too cheap to ignore. it dominates the whole industry.

it's adding new concepts, aggressively paying down debt. i think it's time to buy dollar general and i would buy it aggressively. here's the bottom line. not only do you have a chance to buy it low historical prices, but it should get a big boost from food stamp business. again, though, this is not a trade. it's an investment. jack in new york. jack. >> caller: jimbo, boo-yeah. >> what's up? >> with the large retailers in the u.s. will cvs caremark be hurt or helped? >> i think there's going to be a one-day and two-day. the fist day we'll say wait a second. i mean, initial and second. initial, they lost this number

of days so numbers have to come down. then we're going to see how much merchandise they sold, what they really did and whether the fact is they were ready to replace, if they can replace all that was sold and then maybe people will say you know what, things are good. and then there's this other level, which is, you come in, you stock up and you buy things you didn't expect to buy. that's what the former ceo of costco talked about today. i think it could be happening have cvs. i think the stock is fine. not great, not bad, just fine. let's go to illinois. >> caller: boo-yeah. >> boo-yeah. >> caller: i wanted to ask you about walmart or costco. >> walmart's chart is pretty amazing, i've got to tell you. pulled back ever so slightly. costco is down nine straight points. i'm actually leaning towards costco.

i think on a trade basis, it bottomed just last week, thursday and friday. i think costco is the better buy. you're not going to go wrong with either one, but i do like costco better. i don't typically expect to find profit potential from a hurricane, but dollar general, it will work as an investment and maybe gets a little hurricane kicker. don't move. "the lightning round" is next. >> military boo-yeah. >> big navy boo-yeah. >> high-flying united states air force blue-yeah. >> i am sending you a thank you for serving love of the military, we've got to have him on the show boo-yeah back at you. >> "mad money" helps those who depend our country and its freedoms by helping them defend their financial future. we invite you to join our live studio audience for "mad money." invest in america, honoring our troops. for tickets go to madmoney.cnbc.com.

bloop

>> it's time for "the lightning round." you'll hear this sound and that means the lightning round is over. stu in virginia. >> caller: boo-yeah from virginia. i'm a fisherman and i want to know what level hue let packer. >> sometimes you have to send them back. let's go to eva in new york. >> caller: how are you? >> a little wet. let's open everybody is safe. what's up? >> caller: all right. i have a question for you on

gild. >> i'm going to answer that. i don't know if she was cut off. i was doing the research on gilead. >> buy, buy, buy! >> it may be the strongest in the group. although biogen had a good quarter. let's go to janet in new york. janet? >> caller: boo-yeah, jim. i love you and i love your show. >> i'll take that any day. you're in jersey. i'm looking for a place to stay for a couple of days. what's up? >> caller: dri, what do you think? >> here's the problem with

darden. the stock had a big run. it's got a good yield. then it did nothing after that. it's going down. i think you wait until 50 and then you just buy it. that's the level that people come in and want the stock. let's go to nebraska. with. >> caller: i just want to know on saas. can you double my money in the next year? >> can you you double that? i like cloud. it's a good business. it's a $5 stock. let me do more work on it, if i like it i'll do a full feature on it by the end of the week. that's my promise to you. let's go to lee in california. lee? >> caller: boo-yeah, mr. cramer. thank you for preventing me from making lots of stupid trades and losing lots of money. >> that's what i can do best. good deal. i'll get you to stop doing those mistaken trades. >> caller: yep. i've been looking at rail transport. i've been looking at nfc norfolk southern. if governor romney gets elected,

which might benefit better with his policy. >> if you're going to put it that way. then i'm going to give you norfolk southern that i think is trying to bottom here. if you think the president is re-elected you want to do union pacific which is the stock that has held up better than any. tim in montana, please. tim? >> caller: my oil and gas company you've been negative on in the past. have you recently revisited ioc, interoil. >> look, i know the company, it's kind of a wild card in the business. the oil business has been bad

lately. that's why i'm looking for yield. i'm going for conoco. oil and gas stocks have been terrible of late. let's go to john in illinois, please, john? >> caller: big hello sandy boo-yeah to you. >> nice. >> nuan, nuance technology. >> voice recognition, maybe it's because of the herb greenberg in me. i've been suspicion and wary of voice recognition stocks. i can't get behind it. greg in alabama. greg? >> caller: what do you think about united states oil fund? uso? >> no, no, no. we're not going to buy any of those ones that are -- these don't work. in "getting back to even" i explain why they don't work. i need you in an oil and gas company. i'm sensitive to conoco. by the way, i think you can do that lnco, holds up well. and they've got a good yield. abraham in south carolina. >> caller: hey, jim. man, i love your show. boo-yeah. >> thank you, thank you. >> caller: my question is about anxn. >> people have really decided to back away from this one. it's almost like they decided this one went up too much and they're rotating into gilead. i agree. let's go to mike. >> caller: hey, jim. looking for high dividends.

i bought windstream. it dropped 50%. i want to know whether to hold it, sell it or get some more. >> i was staying at the best western, visiting my friend professor groover and doing a q&a and they had a windstream phone. i still don't like it. centurylink is the better play. i think windstream has more challenged business model than centurylink. paul in california. >> caller: boo-yeah, jimmy, from sunny southern california. i want our east coast brothers and sisters to know our thoughts and prayers are with you. >> same. thank you very much. i hope everybody does okay tonight.

>> caller: absolutely. my stock is phillips 66, psx. >> i like the refiners very much. i continue to believe we will get a situation where there's so much oil in the central part of the country, those companies will make a lot of money. that said, a stock that is up this much, it would be irresponsible for me to be able to say you know what, this is a good level. wait a couple of points pullback and then you'll have a good one. and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of "the lightning round." >> the lightning round is sponsored by td ameritrade. coming up, healthy outlook? your portfolio could use some shelter. ventas offers health care and housing properties across the country. could it provide some protection for your cash? don't miss cramer's exclusive with the ceo.

...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. >> even in this difficult market, you can find high quality companies that can thrive. take ventas, the largest owner of private pay housing facilities for seniors in the country. the owner of medical office buildings. ventas just reported a strong quarter last friday.

company's funds from operations at the real estate investment equivalent coming at at 93 cents a share. its revenues were higher than expected. the company raised its full-year guidance and its occupancy is up above 90%. of course, this is a story that some would say is somewhat sensitive to the election, since many expect health care real estate will not do as well if romney rolls back obamacare. but it's about supply and demand. 78 million baby boomers aren't getting any younger. the we haven't built many new ones in recent years. that supply and demand dynamic is going to remain true regardless of who's in the white house. so let's check in with the chairman and ceo of ventas to learn more about the quarter and where her company is headed. welcome back to "mad money." >> great to see you again. >> people talking about fiscal

cliff, people talking about medicare cuts, people talking about a president who may not be in favor of o -- a potential candidate not in favor of obamacare. isn't this the story of people turning 65 and how we just don't have enough properties? >> it clearly is a case of demographics. ventas has done well catering to baby boomers, as well as the over 85 population. and the over 85 is really the fastest growing segment in the u.s. >> in your presentation, a fabulous presentation, you have an average household income of $100,000 plus. this is the higher priced senior living experience, right? which means it's much less sensitive to different issues involving washington politics. >> yes, absolutely. over 80% of ventas' revenues

come from private-pay sources and 25% of our business come from this very high end barrier to entry senior living markets operated by well known providers, atria and sunrise. and those two companies are just hitting the cover off the ball. >> now, you -- talking about occupancy rates and 90%. could you put that in perspective about where you've been? i think people say listen, that's 10% is unoccupied. i think that's an historically high number. >> at the peak, you could expect senior living to be occupied in the 92% to 96% range. and right now, we've crossed over 90%. so there is still upside from the demographics, and as the housing market continues to improve, i think we'll continue to see positive absorption in that sector. >> do you think, therefore, we can continue to expect your board to go with this tremendous dividend policy that you've had,

that has just really enabled your company to exceed almost every other real estate investment trust out there. >> well, one thing providing consistent return to shareholders is dividend. ventas has increased the dividend over 10% a year for the last ten years. that's because of our cash flow growth. so we work very hard to continue delivering consistent cash flow growth. and if we're successful in doing so, i think we will be able to continue driving dividends for our shareholders.

>> all right, we got this terrible hurricane, 60 million people covered. we keep hearing that places similar to yours, senior housing, many had to move -- they've had to try to relocate people. are you doing that with any of yours? and how is that going? >> we do business with some of the top care providers in the nation, whether it's nursing homes or senior living. and these companies, like atrian and sunrise are professionals. they weathered last year's storm exceedingly well. with we've been in contact with them all week about the preparations they're making. the generator checks, the supplies, and always the staff that's there to ensure safety for our residents. >> and are there still the opportunities that you have, given the fact that there hasn't been a lot of building to continue to buy. your balance sheet is is a fortress balance sheet. you have a lot of flexibility to do some buying. is there anything out there? >> absolutely. ventas has 29% debt to enterprise value. definitely in a great sound financial condition. and we will maintain that in all events. but we've acquired $13 billion of assets since the beginning of '11, and $1.7 billion in assets year to date.

and those opportunities continue, and we continue to try to build a balanced business model with a great balance sheet so we can give investors offense through growth and defense in the event that we once again go through a disrupted market. >> all right, now, you bought, i believe 36 medical office buildings in this quarter alone. is that because some people want to take advantage of raising capital gains rates next year? or people who want to get ahead of a potential romney presidency? why are people willing to sell so aggressively? >> well, first of all, i would tell you, we are in a very good place in the market. the health care real estate market is a trillion dollar highly fragmented market. and so we see continued opportunities because of our low cost to capital. to do attractive deals that work for sellers and work for ventas shareholders. and those trends will continue. >> last question, where they talk about the fiscal cliff, this is october 23, downgrade

ventas to hold on care concerns. there's worried about long term acute care and your company. i don't get it. >> well, i think that really overlooks the private pay component that we've been talking about here and how much of ventas' business is really being driven by private pay assets. i will tell you that there is uncertainty around nursing home reimbursement, but we have built a business that is designed to thrive in any economic reimbursement or capital market cycle. and that's what we at ventas continue to work hard, so we can do a good job for our shareholders. >> your record shows you've obviously been doing it and i think you're going to continue

to do it. thank you. great to see you. >> great to see you, too, jim. thanks. >> what are we like here? 3.9% yield? is good growth. a company that exceeded the revenue expectations. i know. there aren't many of those out there. this is one of them. i would say with it. stay with cramer. >> i want to give you a black knight combat boo-yeah to you. >> a military boo-yeah. >> high-flying united states air force air force blue yeah. >> i am sending you back a thank you for serving, love of military, we've got to have them on the show boo-yeah whack back at you. >> this veterans day, "mad money" salutes those who defends our country's freedoms by helping defend their financial futures. if you or someone in your family is proudly serving or has served in america's armed forces, we invite you to join our live studio audience for "mad money -- invest in america honoring our troops." for tickets go to madmoney.cnbc.com. >> the moment i heard the

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>> the moment i heard the markets would be closed today, i checked the s&p futures. of course, they're down. i got to tell you, it isn't just the hurricane at work. there's just a presumption these days right now that the market will fall on its own weight over any news. remember, this kind of monster storm, while initially obviously and terribly hard for loss of life can lead to a boost in the gross domestic product for federal and private insurance outlays. yeah, it could be huge. maybe even bigger than hurricane andrew in 1992, which helped lift the whole gdp of the country. these days in the action of any stock-moving american news, our markets tend to want to go down. there was a time when the futures would naturally trade up.

when you came to work on monday, you knew the mutual funds got gobs of money in from retail investors. we used to call it mutual fund monday and it was a powerful tale. now we just expect those futures to be down. much of the negativity is imported from europe. most of those markets are actually up. some up nicely for the year. in fact, only spain is down. that market is off 9%, that's not bad for a depression. so what explains the weakness in futures? we had prevailing clouds and storms over our market for a long time. miserable european backdrop, worries about a government shutdown. squalls about the fiscal cliff. the freezing of the election, which is emblematic of the total gridlock in washington. all these have been part of what's been an endless malaise.

what do you do? do you surrender and say if the future is down? no. here's my advice. we heard endlessly that revenues have disappointed. how about these, panera, honeywell, ppg, verizon, yahoo, comcast, the parent company of this network. these companies beat and raised and could all be down because of a market-wide selloff. they have remarkably good charts that could bounce when the selloff smoke clears. the market goes down even when it's closed. but we also have a plan. use it. we can profit from the market's malaise. we've just had to find the winners more than we had to at the market's bottom three short years ago. stick with cramer. >> stick connected with cramer on madmoney.cnbc.com.

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